5,000m RC and 7,500m Power Auger Drilling Underway with High-Grade Gold Hits

Exploration Milestone at Dadjan and Tole

DeSoto Resources Limited (ASX – DES) has embarked on a significant phase of exploration at its Dadjan and Tole Gold Projects in Guinea, marking the first recorded drilling activity in the Dadjan permit area, which has a rich history of over 50 years of artisanal mining but no prior modern drilling.

The company has commenced a 5,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling program targeting the Dadjan Main Zone and Grand Plateau, alongside a 7,500-metre power auger drilling campaign at the NE and Central Tole zones. This dual approach aims to rapidly assess the gold mineralisation potential across these historically underexplored permits within the prolific Siguiri Basin.

Encouraging Early Assay Results

Recent assay results from trench, soil, rock chip, and dump samples have delivered encouraging gold grades that validate the exploration strategy. Highlights include trench samples at Dadjan returning up to 5.61 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, while Tole’s rock chip samples have yielded exceptional values, including a standout 41.35 g/t Au. Other notable results from Tole include trench intervals of 7.45 g/t Au over 2 metres and soil samples exceeding 2 g/t Au.

These results underscore the potential for significant gold mineralisation hosted within the Birimian Supergroup rocks, characterised by quartz vein-hosted orogenic gold deposits. The presence of artisanal mining camps and non-mechanised gold extraction activities around Dadjan further highlights the area’s mineral endowment.

Strategic Exploration and Community Engagement

DeSoto’s exploration efforts are bolstered by a robust financial position, with approximately AUD 15.5 million in cash following a recent capital raising. This funding supports accelerated drilling and regional exploration programs across the company’s extensive 1,000 square kilometre portfolio in Guinea.

Importantly, the company maintains positive relations with local communities, demonstrated by infrastructure upgrades such as track and road improvements and the drilling of new water bores to support both exploration activities and local needs. This community engagement is critical for sustainable exploration and future development.

Looking Ahead

Following the completion of the Dadjan RC drilling program, DeSoto plans to initiate a 1,200-metre RC drilling campaign at Tole Main Zone to further delineate mineralised zones. Concurrently, regional exploration continues with soil and bulk leach extractable gold (BLEG) sampling across other permits, including Syncerus-Komah and Timbakouna, aiming to refine targets for subsequent drilling.

While these early-stage results are promising, the company cautions that true widths of mineralised zones are yet to be determined, and independent verification of assay data is pending. Nonetheless, the combination of historical artisanal mining evidence, strong assay grades, and systematic exploration positions DeSoto Resources well to advance its Guinea gold projects toward resource definition.